The hospital said volunteers will care for the birds for at least 90 days,
initially at the Wild At Heart facility in Cave Creek and then at the new site.

The transitional period will serve to break the birds' bond with the former
habitat.

The owls live underground, leaving them especially affected by development.
They do not dig their own burrows but instead inhabit underground spaces
abandoned by other animals, primarily prairie dogs and ground squirrels.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says western burrowing owls historically
have lived in Canada, the Great Plains of the United States and southward into
Mexico.

However, populations have declined in several regions, including the northern
Great Plains and Canada, while increasing in others, including southwestern
deserts.